


Child's Play

by alexandermylove



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Established Relationship, Figure skater Laurent, Fluff and Angst, M/M, POV Damen (Captive Prince), Slice of Life, but like only a little bit of angst, talks of past abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23302591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexandermylove/pseuds/alexandermylove
Summary: The plan was to bring Nicaise to the park and then the ice cream parlor. The third stop brings up some memories Laurent would prefer to forget.
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 63





	Child's Play

**Author's Note:**

> This is the same universe as "Shall we Skate?" I'm planning on maybe making a couple more one-shots also in this same world since I love their little family. 
> 
> The warning for 'talks of past abuse' is because the regent is the worst.

It was nice out, one of the first days of spring in Arles. Seasons were still something Damen was getting used to. Even though he had lived in Vere for nearly a decade after attending college at the University of Acquitart and then chose to stay here because of Laurent, Damen didn’t think he would ever stop longing for the year-long humidity and sky-high temperatures of his home. But even though he hated the cold and the snow and heavy winter jackets, he loved Laurent more so it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. 

Nicaise was between him and his husband, holding their hands and swinging them back and forth. It was almost ridiculous how tiny the four-year-old looked compared to him. Even on his worst days, Damen had lifted dumbbells heavier than his son. 

They were at the park so said son could run around and let off some of his unlimited reserves of energy. As soon as Nicaise had seen the jungle gym with its many climbing walls and miniature slides, he had started to walk faster, trying to pull his fathers along with him. They had laughed but played along anyway, Laurent even making a comment about how strong he was becoming. 

“Daddy! Can you ride the slide with me?” Nicaise asked, pointing to the structure. 

He heard the sound of Laurent snorting but chose to ignore it in favor of bending down to be eye level with the small child. “I might be just a bit too big to do it with you, sweetheart, _but_ I’m sure your papa would love to accompany you instead.” 

Damen glanced up to see Laurent’s sharp look and simply winked at his husband before running his fingers through Nicaise’s hair and standing up. “Have fun. I’ll make sure to take _a lot_ of pictures.” 

And take a lot of pictures he did because as intimidating and unapproachable Laurent pretended to be, under all of his sharp edges and quick retorts, he was a big softie when it came to those he cared about. So when Nicaise made Laurent find a way to fit his thin skater’s hips into the width of a bright pink slide that was only a handful of inches longer than his legs, Damen was there to capture it all. And also maybe send a few of those pictures to Auguste and Nik. 

When Laurent’s phone chimed only a few moments later he could only assume it was one of them either providing compliments or gloating about the new blackmail material. His husband sidled up next to him, standing on his tiptoes a bit so his mouth could be right next to Damen's ear before murmuring: “I’m going to kill you.” 

Damen simply wrapped an arm around him and smiled. He had lived a good life. It would be worth it. 

Laurent didn’t shrug him off as he turned his attention back to their son and said, “How about the swings next, sweetheart? It will give daddy an opportunity to actually do something today.” 

“Oh, nothing would make me happier,” Damen replied, turning his head to place a quick kiss to his husband's face.

Nicaise excitedly ran over to the swings and patted one. “Will you swing with me too, papa?” 

“Of course. But only if daddy pushes.” Laurent responded, delicately sitting on one of the swings and raising an expectant eyebrow. 

Damen rolled his eyes good-naturedly but did give the blond a few solid pushes before turning his attention to their son. He bent to lift Nicaise onto the other swing. 

“Hold on tight okay? And don’t let go, yeah?” 

Nicaise nodded his understanding and Damen began to push him as well. He was more gentle with the toddler, making sure he wouldn’t swing too high, but Nicaise didn’t seem to mind. He was smiling brightly and even letting out little whoops of laughter and happiness. He was a completely different child from the shy and reserved one they had first met at the orphanage a couple of years ago. Thinking of how far their son had come made Damen’s heart soar. 

And then there was Laurent, his husband who in some ways had been even harder to crack than Nicaise. Laurent who had once spoken to Damen in nothing but scathing remarks and wouldn’t even look him in the eyes because it was a ‘waste of his time.’ Laurent who had since jumped off the swing and was standing in front of them, smiling broadly and making silly faces as their son swung toward him to make the small boy laugh even harder. 

Laurent and Nicaise who filled Damen with so much love and happiness every single day that sometimes it felt like it would burst out of him. 

* * *

Laurent had managed to convince Nicaise to leave the park with the promise of ice cream. Their son had been calm on the walk over to the parlor, resting his head on Laurent’s shoulder as his husband carried him, looking like he could fall asleep any second before suddenly, his head shot up and his body becoming ramrod straight. 

He started patting Laurent’s face, trying to get his attention. “Papa! Papa look. Look at the kitties!” 

Laurent hummed out a noise of confusion before turning his body to see that Nicaise had been pointing at a pet store. Upset about the fact that he could no longer see the animals in the window, Nicaise began to struggle in Laurent’s arms, eager to get down and get a closer look. 

Damen took a step forward, placing a calming hand on one of Nicaise’s arms. “Woah, easy there, sweetheart. If you calm down a bit we’ll take you to see the kitties, okay?” 

Nicaise did as he was told, nodding at them and asking Laurent to put him down. Once on the ground, he took both of their hands to drag them back toward the pet shop. 

The woman working the front desk was nice, bending down to look Nicaise in his eyes and smiling brightly as she asked him if he wanted to pet the animals in the next room. 

Nicaise was practically vibrating with excitement as he tried to pull his parents along with him again. Damen went easily but Laurent stayed firmly planted in his position, unwavering. 

“Are you not coming, papa?” Nicaise asked looking up at Laurent with confusion. 

Laurent smiled at their son but Damen could tell something was wrong by the tightness in the corner of his eyes. “No. I’m alright out here, sweetheart, but pet all the kitties for me, okay?” 

“Okay!” Nicaise replied, easily satisfied with the answer. 

Damen was not as easily fooled so after a few minutes of watching Nicaise coo over the animals, he slipped out of the room to sit next to his husband in the reception area. 

“Laurent, do you not like cats?” 

Laurent’s lips curled down slightly before his face went back to an impassive mask. 

Now Damen definitely knew something was wrong. Laurent only used this tactic when there was an emotion he was trying to suppress. 

Laurent hesitated for a moment before saying: “I...do not.” The words sounded stilted and forced and Damen couldn’t figure out why such a simple question had warranted this kind of response.

He reached out to take Laurent’s hand in his own, rubbing his thumb over the rings on his husband’s fingers but paying special attention to his wedding band. 

“Why?” 

Laurent’s hand tightened around his own but besides that, there was no indication that Laurent had even heard his question with how still his features were. 

“When I was growing up, my uncle kept a number of cats in the house. Somehow every single ‘Fluffy’ or ‘Princess’ or ‘Lucky’ or whatever other stupid names they had, all hated me. For a long time, not a single day would go by without getting bitten or scratched at by them. Sometimes the scratches were really bad but instead of getting them looked at, my uncle made me skate through the pain. A lot of my scars are actually because of that but he obviously didn’t care except for the handful of times it looked like I might have developed an infection. When I was 14, I think, I had an exceptionally bad one, but it coincided with one of my competitions so I had to perform before he took me to the doctor. So...I suppose that is why I don't like cats." 

With his explanation finished, they fell into a heavy silence. Every time Laurent brought up his uncle, Damen always felt like he had to punch something. His ears were ringing and his eyesight began to narrow as he was overcome with absolute unadulterated hatred for Laurent’s uncle. His husband had grown up in terrible living conditions but he still managed to be amazing and brilliant and loving and so so kind. Damen didn’t know how Laurent did it but it was just one of the many things he admired about the other man. 

So he took a deep breath and when he felt that his voice wouldn’t betray the way he was feeling inside he said, “Do you want to leave? I can make up some excuse so that he blames me.” 

“No. No,” Laurent responded waving him off, “Don’t worry about me. Let him have fun. _You_ go and have fun,” Laurent said pushing at Damen’s shoulder gently. 

Damen kept eye contact with him for a moment, trying to convey that he was here and that he loved Laurent more than anything in the world. 

“Okay,” he responded, leaning down to kiss his husband’s hand. 

Damen rejoined his son in the petting room, pulling the small boy into his lap so they could pet the animals together. Nicaise commented on how pretty or soft they all were and Damen was listening. He threw in words and sounds of acknowledgment and quizzed Nicaise on his colors in Veretian and Akielion since they were trying to make him fluent in both of their languages. Damen was listening but his heart was on the other side of the door. Worrying about whether Laurent was anxious after having to think about his past and if he would get so twisted and tangled up in his own head that it would take days for him to find his way out on the other side. 

“Alright, Nicaise, I think it’s about time to go get that ice cream, hmm?” 

And again it wasn’t hard to convince a four-year-old to do anything as long as ice cream was involved. His son practically ran out of the room, going to Laurent with his hands up, ready to be picked up again. Laurent laughed at that and Damen felt a bit of relief at seeing the genuine emotion on his husband’s face. 

“Did you have fun with all the kitties?” Laurent asked as they headed out of the store. 

That was all Nicasie needed to start gushing about how much he had loved every second of it. Laurent was nothing but attentive, seemingly hanging onto every word, but Damen could see the impassive mask trying to reform on Laurent’s face. 

* * *

Once home, it was time to put Nicasie down for a nap. They were tucking him in when he asked in a tired voice: “Can we get a kitty?” 

Damen took in a breath, preparing himself to take one for the team and assume the role of the bad guy in this situation but before he could talk, Laurent beat him to the punch. 

“Yes,” Laurent answered definitively and Damen whipped his head around to look at his husband with confusion. Laurent ignored him as he continued, “But not right now. I want you to contemplate- that means to think really hard- about it for a little bit longer though because kitties are a big responsibility. So I’ll ask you again, just to make _sure_ this is what you want and if the answer is still yes, then we can get one. Sound like a plan?” Laurent said sticking out his pinky finger. 

Nicaise stuck out his own finger to wrap around Laurent’s much bigger one. “Sounds like a plan,” he agreed. 

“Good,” Laurent said bending down to press a kiss to the boy’s forehead, “I love you. Go to sleep.” 

Damen had been rendered a bit speechless at what had just gone down but unfroze to lean down to give Nicaise a kiss as well. 

“I love you,” he said moving toward the door. 

“I love you, daddy. I love you, papa.” Nicaise parroted back before they walked through the door. 

“Uh-” Damen started just for Laurent to put a finger to lips, gesturing for Damen to keep quiet. 

He walked into the kitchen, Damen trailing behind him silently. 

“What?” Laurent said, leaning against one of the countertops and massaging his temples. 

Damen reached into one of the cabinets to grab some pain killers and a bottle of water. They kept them there since Laurent was prone to stress headaches. Damen handed them over to his husband and waited for him to swallow before asking his question. 

“What just happened?” 

“Don’t get me wrong, I definitely do still hate cats, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take for that to change but-” he sighed deeply before meeting Damen’s eyes straight on. “I don’t want my past trauma to get in the way of our son being the happiest that he can possibly be.” 

Damen felt his heart skip a beat in his chest. He was overcome with so much respect and admiration and love and probably ten other emotions that he didn’t know how to put into words. Instead, he walked forward to wrap Laurent into his arms. The other man responded instantly, tucking his head under Damen’s chin and grabbing onto his shirt with both hands. 

They stayed like that for a moment before Laurent decided to kill the mood by moving away and shoving his hand into Damen’s face. 

“Shut up,” he said. 

“I didn’t say anything,” Damen replied, smiling under his husband’s palm. 

“Yes, but I can practically hear your thoughts right now.” 

Damen licked Laurent’s skin and laughed when his husband shot him an annoyed look but didn’t move away. 

Damen reached up to take Laurent’s hand and place it back on his chest. “Good. Then I won’t have to waste my breath talking and can just do this instead-” 

He leaned forward to press their lips together. 

Just to have Laurent pretend to still be annoyed and not bother to return any of the kisses. 

Damen pulled far enough away for Laurent to see him pout and even went so far as to let out a soft whine against his husband’s skin. 

Laurent laughed at him, wrapping his arms around Damen’s neck to pull him even closer and said, “You are ridiculous.” 

“Yes, but you love me,” Damen replied, shrugging. 

“I do love you,” Laurent confirmed before leaning in to pepper Damen’s face with a barrage of sweet kisses. 

Damen closed his eyes to enjoy the moment. "I'm going to find you the sweetest, kindest, most gentle cat in the whole world, even if I have to go all the way to Isthima." 

Laurent snorted, releasing his hold on Damen and leaning back to look at him. "Oh, yes, because I'm _sure_ being so close to home would be _such a hassle_ for you." 

Damen smiled in return, "Of course. So much of a hassle that I might even have to take an extended vacation. But don't worry, I'll consider inviting you along." he finished with another soft kiss to Laurent's lips. 

Laurent rolled his eyes and pushed away from him but Damen knew he was amused. 

He turned around to watch his husband disappear into their bedroom. Sure, things had taken an unexpected turn for a little bit but Laurent was going to be okay.

Damen would make sure of it. 

He pushed away from the tabletop to follow Laurent into their room. 

**Author's Note:**

> The end. 
> 
> Hopefully, y'all liked this. Hit me with a comment to lmk what you think!


End file.
